Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

tona 200, seen by 1,225,000 households. ... Q,) ..0 8 Q,) u Q,) Q BY p~p~ Wf~LfY Still alive: According to its U.S. distributor. the Italian motorcycle company Fantic is still doing business, despite European reports that it had gone bankrupt. Fentic reportedly ren into money troubles after spending about $20 million on a new engine plant; high interest rates and inflation forced it to seek reorganization. News of Fantic merging with a European conglomerate to stay' afloat have not been confirmed.,Fantic·s U.S. distributor, TMI. .ys that bikes will be available for 1985. including a new 301 cc single-shock trials model. Lellersopposinga U.. Ni,lVy proposal to turn 300,000 acres of 'prime California desert riding area into a bombing range should be sent to Ed Hastey'- BLM State Director, 2800 COllage Way, Sacramento, CA 95825. With the closure of Saddleback Park. Saddleback Motocross (SMXI has moved its races - still with 30-minute motos - to the new Corona International track located at Corona Raceway. SMX reces will be held there on the first, third, fourth and fifth SundaYI of every month; more information is available by calling 714/8313482. Jay Gleason will demonstrate the new Yamaha V-Max by doing dragrace-style burnouts several times daily at the Great American Motorcycle Be ATV Shows, starting at the Los Angeles Convention Center Show December 7-9. BMW'I wOrkl off-road racer Iponlored by Marlboro and Playboy il fitted with a 98OCc, 94 x 70.6mm air-cooled, opposed-twin, pUlhrod, fourstroke engine with 8.6:1 compreslion. The bike uses two 40mm Bing CV carbl and a custom two-into-two exhaust with a balance tube and upkicked aluminum lilencerl. The single White Power rear Ihock deliverl 11 inchel of wheel travel; the Marzocchi front fons have 42mm stanchion tubel with 11.8 inchel of travel. Wheelbase i169.8 inchel, fuel tank capacity 16.26 gallons, and claimed dry weight 341.7 pounds. Both wheels are spoked and carry six-ply Michelin knobbies with non-pneumatic foamtubel; thefronttireisa 90/90-21, thereara 140/90-17. The lingle 10.2-inch,Brembo Brake disc is aluminum; the rear brake il a 7.8-inch drum. The lights are quartz halogen. Belgian Marc Velkenears will lead Team Maico in the '86 260cc World MXChampionshipchase.ln 1984, Velkeneers finished fourth on a Gilera. Another Belgian rider, Ivan Van den Broeck has returned to the Maico camp for 1986 and will still compete in the 500cc World Championship series. Van den Broeck rode for KTM in '84. Husqvarna's Terry Cunningham,the '84 National Enduro Series Champion, is recuperating at his home in Athens. Ohio, after successful surgery to remove the steel plate in his right leg. The champ'expects to be fully recovered within three months, after which he plans to seek his third serie) title. Cards and letters can be sent to Terry in care of Husqvarna Motorcycle Co., 2187 S. James Rd., Columbus, OH 43227. Vet another American MXer has been racing in Europe this fall; Ohioan Tom Carlon rode the October 20 beach race in Scheweningen. Holland. but went out with a seized motor on lap one. On October 27-28, Carson and Mark Murphy rode a Supercross in Stuttgart. Germany. 2 Hot shows: Rankings of televised NASCAR, CART and IROC car events and AMA motorcycle races according to numbers of households viewing show that only the Indianapolis 500 out-drew the Superbikers. The Indy 500 was watched on ABC by 10,810,200 households; Part II of the AMA Superbikers, also on ABC, was watched by 8,128,600 households; Part I of the AMA Superbikers on ABC drew 7,625,800 households. The NASCAR Daytona 500 on CBS attracted 7,290,600 households for fourth place in season standings, followed by the AMA San Jose Mile on ABC in fifth with 3,938,600 households. The ABC showing of the NASCAR Daytona 400 tied with San Jose; the CBS NASCAR Michigan 400 was sixth with 3,854.800; the NBC CA.RT Phoenix race seventh at 3,435,800. CBS earned eighth with the NASCAR Talladega race at 3,352,000 and ninth with the IROC;: at Michigan with 3,268,200. NBC tied three ways for 10th at 3,184,400 for the CART Meadowlands GP, the CART race at Michigan International Raceway and the CART race at Pocono. NBC also took 11th in the standings with the AMA Syracuse Mile's 3,016,800 households watching pUlling it ahead of CBS coverage of the IROC at Talladega (2,765,400) and Cleveland (2,430,200), ESPN coverage of CART at Milwaukee (1,440,000), CBS film of the Michigan IROC (1,424,600) and the USA Network's showing ofthe AMA Day- Look for .20-year-old Kevin Schwantz from Houston, Texas on the Voshimura RlaD of America Superbike in 1986. Schwantz earned the ride by running 1 minute, 30-l8COnd lap times and winning the Formula One and Superbike races at an ARRA event at Willow Springl December 2; Superbike Champion Fred Merkel's fastast lapi in winning the September AMA Pro-Am et Willow were 1 :311. Schwantz spent December 1 practicing at Willow with Team Hammer, and turned 1 :321 on Hammer's 24-hour bike with full lighting equipment and a stock GS1150 engine. VOlhimura and two-time Superbike Champion Wes Cooley have split; several riders have tried out for the ride, including Dale Quarterley, Jim Vreeke and Todd Brubaker. Team Honda is now accepting orders for new 1985 RS250R road racers. The 70·bhp racebike is available for $7500 including a fairing and a spares kit, and the Team Honda transporter will continue to carry spare parts for Honda racebikes to all the AMA National and Pro-Am events in 1985. The team is also o£fering over $200,000 in contingency money for Honda pilots in AMA Formula One, Formula Two and Superbike, as well as in the AFM Honda 500cc Interceptor Series. For technical information contact Phil McDonald and for ordering contact Keith Reeves at Team Honda headquarlers, 213/604-2545. The Honda contingency program for 1986 AMA road races pays to five places in F-1, F-2 and Superbike. The winner of a Superbike race at a Camel Pro Series National gets $2000 with $1300 going to second, $800 for third, $600 for fourth and $300 for fifth. A Superbike win at a Pro-Am will P'Y $1500; second through fifth will earn $1000, $760, $400 and $250. F-1 and F-2 events will pay the same as Superbike Pro-Ams. Honda will also pay a $10,000 bonus for winning the F-1 or F·2 championships; taking the Superbike title will pay $20,000. We asked CB Magazines spokesman John Workman if the company planned to combine newly-acquired Cycle magazine with it current title, (and Cycle arch-rival) Cycle World. "As the acquisition has just been finalized, we haven't made any such plan at thi time," Workman said. "We plan to wait and see and make those type of decision. There is no such plan at this time." An interesting footnote to the CBS acquisition of Cycle is the fact that the two magazines have operated with conflicting circulation g.rowth philosophies. Cycle World Publisher Jim Hansen is a strong proponent of natural circulation growth, with no discount-promotioncaused jumps in circulation. Cycle; on the other hand. has long pumped up circulation figures with expensive-to-Iand and expensive-tomaintain discount subscription promotions - one recent study estimated that 89% of Cycle'$ circulation cornes from discount subscriptions. There will be four new Yamaha BW200s available for free test rides at the December 9 CRC Santa Claus Enduro in Lucerne Valley, California. More information is available by calling 714/689-6114. More info: The 1985 Vamaha TZ250 mentioned last week has a larger radiator and stronger bigend bearings than the 1984 model, to deal with extra power Cend heetl generated by the.change to crankcase reed-valve induction' and 36mm Mikuni carbs, the addition of extra exhaust ports, the switch to a flat, guillotine-style Valliaha Power Velve and the use of a lessrestrictive silencer. Other changes include the use of additional bearing supports on the shift shaft, installation of a larger, aerodynamically-l;Jetter seat/tailsection, and a move to a 3.00-17 front wheel instead of the 1984's 2.60-18. Components made lighterfor 1986 include the cylinder head, fueltank baffles, steering head and steering shaft, wheel spacers and spoke nipples, and drive chain. The bikes, which come standard with spoked wheels and single front disc brakes, can be ordered from Vamaha Racing Manager Ken Clark through local Vamaha dealers. Yamaha's Tadahiko Tiara and World Champion Eddie Lawson split wins in two days of road racing at the Malaysian Grand Prix on December I and 2: Tiara won on Saturday with Lawson second with mechanical problems; Lawson won on Sunday ·with Tiara second; Team Honda's Kanashita was third both days. Former World Champion Freddie Spencer was scheduled to appear but didn't show up; race organizers reported that Spencer was ill, but grapevine reports wer.e that Spencer's non-appearance was related to problems encountered during contract re-negotiations with Honda. American Honda Motor Co. and Sunnyslope Honda have donated . 30 new motorcycles to the Motorcycle Mechanics Institute in Phoenix,. Arizona. The machines will be

• Cover